Charmed life in Big Easy

Sunday

Just because Vince Lombardi liked to say, "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," doesn't make it so.

Just because Vince Lombardi liked to say, "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," doesn't make it so.

For starters, Lombardi never lost anything in New Orleans -- not even a game.

But Archie Manning did: over and over, just about every way imaginable and nearly 100 times while wearing the fleur-de-lis of the Saints for 11 of his 13 NFL seasons. And then, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he nearly lost his hometown. Yet few have led a more charmed existence.

Manning is still married to the homecoming queen he swept off her feet at Ole Miss more than four decades ago, when he came calling as the star quarterback. He's made plenty of money since, lost none of his charisma, only a little hair and at age 60, remains within a few pounds of his playing weight.

Better still, Manning found a way to ease any lingering hurts from all that losing. For the third time in the past four years -- and the second time courtesy of middle son Peyton -- people are going to fuss over Archie at the Super Bowl.

"I never got close to it, certainly," he said, referring to his playing days, "so maybe there's justice there."

Or maybe not.

Because the team waiting for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts is the same franchise that Archie toiled for and his sons grew up rooting for. But that was before the Saints got serious and after they nearly got washed away with the rest of New Orleans. As a result, they're the last team standing in the way of a third Super Bowl for the Manning clan.

Few people can better appreciate what the team's rise means to New Orleans than the Manning patriarch. Even so, Archie won't pretend choosing sides was tough.

"I'm a hundred percent on that, 100 percent," he said.

In other words, blood will always be thicker than water, even when that water has the power to roil so many memories.

"I lived in New Orleans 39 years and I'm very proud of what the Saints have done," Archie said.

Romantic as the relationship looks now, Manning's days with the Saints weren't always wine and roses. He was sacked more than 300 times behind a porous offensive line. He was eight years into his career before producing his only non-losing season (8-8, in 1979), only to have the Saints promptly nosedive to 1-15 in 1980. Midway through that season, fans began showing up at the Superdome with grocery bags on their heads. More than once, Archie told his wife, Olivia, to leave the boys home rather than watch him get mercilessly booed in person.

Yet the harsh memories faded soon enough. As the three boys became standout athletes at Newman High, the Mannings became fixtures on the sidelines and in car pools.

Cooper, now 36, never made it to the top. He was a promising receiver at Ole Miss who quit playing after surgery to correct a chronic spinal condition.

"I never heard him have a regret, any bitterness or complaints," Eli once said. "He got his cards and played them the right way."

The rise of Peyton, two years behind Cooper, was easier to predict. Peyton was serious enough about the game that when he switched from flag football to tackle in seventh grade, he spent weeks mastering the dropback and made Eli learn to snap the ball like a real center instead of from the side.

Eli was five years younger than Peyton, and more easygoing and content to soak up the lessons. But no sooner had he collected a Super Bowl ring and MVP trophy to match the hardware Peyton brought home from the 2007 Super Bowl than Eli demanded a new position the next time the Mannings gathered for a pickup game.

"Maybe I can be a receiver now," Eli joked.

From where Archie stands, his sons' "competition" looks like nothing more than serendipity. Given one more chance to frame his own contribution, Manning rubbed his chin.

"They're good listeners," he said, "and the one thing I always told them was 'Don't ever take a win for granted. They're hard to get.' "

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